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San Juanico Bridge: The Bridge With Human Blood As Foundation?

There are a lot of fascinating stories on how the famous structures got built, It may be a story of pure hard work, triumphant teamwork, collaborative excellence, etc that would totally inspire anyone who would hear about its backstory. But, not all of the famous and legendary structures in the history has a very heartwarming background, some were plagued with creepy, spooky and bloody stories that can either make an individual avoid the certain structure or not. But what if that certain structure is necessary for you to go to because it connects you to another place for transportation, Let's say a bridge. What if a bridge was allegedly built from human blood and what could creep you out more is it's actually from children's blood? One of the most famous and talked about bridges in the Philippines is San Juanico Bridge. San Juanico Bridge is talked about not only because it's the longest bridge in the Philippines. According to locals, It was said to have a strong foundation for it has a very bloody foundation, literally.

San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway and stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait in the Philippines. Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shapedtruss design. With a total length of 2.16 kilometers (1.34 mi), it is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of seawater.

The Marcoses' project of the 21.9 million-dollar bridge was contracted to the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation), which together with Japanese engineers conducted studies and designed the actual project. Construction commenced in 1969 over San Juanico Strait from Cabalawan, Tacloban City to the municipality of Santa Rita, Samar, with completion in 1973. - Wikipedia

The world witnessed the rise and fall of Martial Law in the Philippines which is under the Marcos Administration during that time. One of its known projects that time was the San Juanico Bridge. During that time, there were mandated curfews all over the country and one of the reasons behind it is for nobody to see what the bridge is built with. Rumors say that the builders of the bridge allegedly took innocent children and used their blood to mix with the cement for it has been proven to improve the foundation of the Bridge. It was said that an enormous amount of lost children were evident that time but since Martial Law was on effect that time, no one can object or try to look for the lost children.

Urban Legends states that the reason for this creepy decision was due to the First Lady's visit to a fortune teller. Imelda Marcos was in charge of building the bridge and consulted a fortune teller on how can she have the bridge built successfully. The reading of the Fortune Teller warned Imelda that the construction of the building won't be finished unless they do a ''ritual" while building the bridge. The ritual or the needed ingredient to be mixed with the cement is the blood of children. Imelda followed the prediction and ordered the kidnappings of innocent street children. Their throats were slit off and used for the bridge's foundation allegedly.

The collected blood would be streaked to the bridge, as a form of offering, so that it would be strong and more durable.The children's corpse were thrown on the river as well. .The killings of the children devastated a fairy on the river where the corpse were thrown at and cursed Imelda to have scales on her legs armed with fishy smell. That curse was said to be the reason why Imelda does not wear anything but long skirts according to urban legend tellers.

Since then, Ghost stories followed the urban legend. There were claims that the kids who were killed are still seen on the bridge by night asking for help. Some were said to still be playful as they don't have a memory of how their lives ended. Other spooky stories were the builders of the bridge were haunted by the spirits of the kids they killed. The bridge was also accused to be haunted as believed by the locals who have seen unusual entities on the bridge as well. The said mixing of blood with cement on the famous bridge allegedly inspired other bridges' foundation and used the same ritual but there's no proof up to this day of that claims.

The myth/legend behind the foundation of San Juanico Bridge totally catches one's imagination and heart. The clever yet dark idea of a fortune teller would totally creep anyone and worst, having a First Lady following the said hideous plot is totally gruesome as well. But if its true indeed, the sympathy for the innocent lvies of the children would be hard to resist.